Engine and Tuning

[So Cal Mark]

I'm considering breaking the Engine and Tuning section into two; one for FI, one for Carburetors. The two systems are so different, that I feel it might streamline the reading process for members. If Fi is not your area of expertise, no need to peruse the posts unless you want to.
Thoughts?

[narfire]

I notice most will tell what kind of car they have but every now and then... carb or FI has to be asked. I don't see any real harm in splitting them. I'll have both before long so the carb learning curve will comence.

[MNspiderman]

terrific idea

[mbouse]

well... i'd suggest that most newbies have issues finding the correct section to post things in to begin with. additional sections will only serve to widen their confusion.

i see a very large percentage of new participants that don't even know the difference between the two fuel delivery systems. in fact, how many times have you seen a new member post technical questions in the introduction section? or, how many times have you read "i dunno where to post this, so here goes...."

one of the most popular Fiat forums on the continent has only one technical section. participants learn early on to be specific in their "subject" line. lately, this forum seems to be growing in the amount of sections available...faster than i can seem to keep up. I prefer to read every post until i find those that require input where i have no experience. believe it or not, i learn about things by reading the discussions of others... and will tend to continue this practice--adding sections will not help me.

wondering if Mark is gonna be willing to play traffic cop and move threads from one section to the other after they are identified to be in the wrong section. "this thread moved to ____ section"

[ROOK1]

I agree with Mike that too many options will just make it easier for someone to post in the wrong section. We already have many threads in the wrong area, there a ton of threads in Spider related that should be in Tech. If you (Mark) will move the threads when they are posted in the wrong section I don't see another section being a bad idea. Maybe you could give this power to a couple of the regulars.

[So Cal Mark]

my feeling was that more specific areas would reduce the possibility of posting in the wrong section, not increase it. Sort of like looking in the yellow pages for particular item rather than just thumbing through the pages. Some of the sections have a description that is a little vague, and I think that lends to posting in the wrong areas. For some of us that spend gobs of time on the site it's probably not a big deal, but for others looking for a solution it may tend to slow the process.

There are days when I have very little time to check the site. On those days I try to help members with urgent problems so I don't read every topic. I quickly look at a couple of sections and move on. So, if someone posts a problem in Fiat Spider related I might not see it until the evening.

It seems like I've read several posts recently where the member replying states that they don't know much about a particular system. I felt that perhaps a member that doesn't have either carb or FI experience might not want to spend time reading about a problem only to find at the end of a the thread that it's a situation they have no interest in.

As for adding Moderators, the Site Owner has asked me not to add anyone on my own. He prefers to do that at his discretion.

[azygoustoyou]

Hey Mark,
Maybe it would be easier if you could do sub tabs. Have the two split up within that section.